My first introduction to Tuck Everlasting came from the movie (starring Alexis Bledel as Winnie). I think it was actucally through the movie that I heard of the book. After reading the book, I’m surprised the movie didn’t take as many liberties with the story as I originally thought it might.

I think I would have enjoyed this story more if I hadn’t seen the movie, but in some ways the movie also heightened the novel since I had a visual of characters and landscape, in particular the creepy man in the yellow suit (played by Ben Kingsley), and the sound of the music box! (Even if you’re one of those people who doesn’t like to see their favorite classics ruined by a movie, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. The movie is very beautiful.)

In Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbit threads the dream of immortality into the life of Winnie Foster, a prim and proper Victorian girl being trained for her upper class role, as she meets the Tuck family. She comes across the youngest Tuck, Jesse, in her father’s woods bent over a tree drinking from a spring, but when she wants a drink Jesse tells her she can’t and a struggle ensues. Winnie ends up being kidnapped by the Tucks in order to preserve the secret of the spring, and their own, whoever drinks from it will live forever.

Babbit deals with a heavy topic. Living forever, or being forever young, seems like an ideal situation, but through the Tuck’s Winnie learns that there’s more to the allure than meets the eye. Life’s a cycle and death is supposed to be a part of it. There’s a finality needed in life that immortality doesn’t bring. The reality of endless life in this world, ultimately, fills empty for the Tuck’s. Even if they can live forever, travel to exotic places, and have adventures they can never settle down, start a family, put down roots–as Miles sadly experienced.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Tuck Everlasting and would recommend it. It’s very well written, childlike, and reminds me of a dream.

The Novel & the Movie

There are some differences between the novel and the movie, which are to be expected. The plot doesn’t change, but a few minor (or not so minor) details do. For one, Winnie is 10 going on 11 in the novel and between 15-17 in the film, which sets her up for a romance with Jesse (whose 17). At first, I was disappointed that the movie changed the age to add the romance aspect, however as I read on they didn’t add the romance but embellished it. In the book, Winnie is quite enamored with Jesse from the beginning,

Sitting relaxed with his back against the trunk was a boy, almost a man. And he seemed so glorious to Winnie that she lost her heart at once. (25)

Jesse even asks Winnie to drink from the spring when she’s 17,

…and then you could go away with me! We could get married, even. That’d be pretty good, wouldn’t it! We could have a grand old time, go all around the world, see everything.” (72)

In the film, Jesse and Winnie’s romance is elaborated and quite sensational–if you’re a hopeless romantic you’ll love it.

The only other difference I can think of is how Mae is rescued, but overall no changes to change the plot and theme of the novel. I enjoyed both the book and film. Who knows…maybe you will too!

Right now, I feel like after the mammoth I felt Emma was I can conquer (ie, read) anything! Just to be clear, Emma wasn’t bad–not at all–just so very, very long.

But looking at the list…that’s a lot of books. To finish by December 31st, I’d have to read a book a week, which might be doable if all life and holidays subsided, considering the length of some. Either way I’m still excited at the amount of reading I have done this year, which is more than I expected!

This week I’m going to crack into Tuck Everlasting and Sacred Chaos, both I think will be quick reads. We’ll see on it goes!

FYI – This is a long post…so you might want to go grab a drink or something.

I first heard about Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born by Tina Cassidy when my husband and I were talking our childbirth class (Bradley method) before Joey was born. I jotted the title down in the back of our workbook to remember for later. This has been one book I’ve really been looking forward to reading this year.

Did you know…

The U.S. has the 2nd worst infant mortality rate in the developed world. (See articles here and here.)

The U.S. is ranked 41st in the world for maternal mortality. (See articles here and here.)

The U.S. C-section rate hovers around 30%, double the World Health Organization recommendation. (See articles here and here.)

Coming away from it my feelings are a little mixed. While Cassidy had a lot of great information and a very thorough history of birth, I came away feeling that the book was part factual, part memoir, and mostly personal opinion. While I’m an adocvate of natural birthing, midwives, and reform in obstetrics in America, Cassidy’s writing comes across much of the time as a personal vendetta against doctors and obstetrics in general. As the book progressed, it was hard to tell what side of the fence Cassidy was on. It seemed in an attempt to be unbiased she jumped from the natural birth/midwife camp to the hospital/doctor camp.

A lot of crazy things have been done in the history of modern obstetrics from “twilight sleep” and strapping laboring women to beds to a mandatory shave of the pubic area and father free deliveries, things that modern medicine (of the time) deemed best. Now we know many of those techniques are not only obselete, but dangerous. Many descriptions aren’t for the faint of heart, more like gag worthy. Ever hear of a craniotomy in labor? You don’t want to know.

The author gives a brief history of the birth experiences from the women in her family. Crazy stories, similar to that of my husband’s grandmother and other women who went into labor and later couldn’t even remember delivering their own child. Cassidy’s first birthing experience was less than what she expected, describing the aftermath as tragic and horrifying. It’s her personal experience and I don’t doubt the trauma, but she isn’t shy on the melodrama either.

I am lucky enough to have come from a line of women who have given birth natural. My mother and both grandmothers has 13 deliveries between the three of them all natural. I’m also glad that I meet a few women over the years who were unafraid to birth naturally and share their experiences. Without these women, I would have probably never thought there was another option.

I was eager to read this book for the facts and while there’s a bibliography over 15 pages long there are no in text references, which makes me doubt her some of evidence and wonder just how much embellished some details may have been. I was surprised that there wasn’t so much as a

So-and-So in his book “Whatever the Title Is,” said

She just breezed by any such references and that really bothered me. There is a section of endnotes for each chapter that matches the beginning of sentences with their corresponding reference like so,

Before he closed the wound: Bulletin of the History of Medicine 50 (1976): 243.

And while that’s better than nothing it left me wondering what would have been so hard about inserting a number in text with a reference to an endnote at the end of the chapter? The way it was done felt irresponsible and as if there might be something to hide.

In the end, I’m glad I read the book and wish that there was some way more people could know about the history of obstetrics and that natural birthing and midwives are not as dangerous as doctors and culture has painted them. Actually, statistics around the world show that, in general, birthing outcomes are better with midwives and with natural techniques. Much of the labor and delivery methods in many hospitals today is for the convenience of the medical staff, not the laboring mother. Come on, who thought it was a good idea to lay down and push? In that position you actually have to push the baby up and out!

As much as many women praise the epidural, who knows what it’s long term side effects are? Doctors once thought it was safe to give a pregnant woman an x-ray! Some studies are beginning to link pitocin and epidurals with the raise in Autism. I think it’s crazy that women will go 9 months through pregnancy watching what they eat, being careful they don’t take medications that will harm the baby, etc and then get an epidural thinking it’s safe. Whatever you get, the baby gets…even in labor. My goal is not to offend anyone here and I’m sorry if I do, but to me the logic just doesn’t line up.

And as another quick aside, when labor is not progressing instead of having women do something that may promote labor, oftentimes they’re given pitocin, the synthetic form of oxytocin, which brings about contractions often more intense than they would have naturally progessed and the next shot is an epidural to handle the pain, then in most cases slows labor which leads to a C-section.

I think what America needs in its obstetrics is a better education system. Women are basically told an epidural or C-section is the way to go. There is little to no education on techniques to manage labor and even fewer freedoms once laboring at a hospital. My word to you: educate yourself. Read books on labor and delivery, the natural way and how hospitals approach birth. (I hate to clump all hospitals together. I know some are more natural birth friendly than others.) Ask a lot of questions. Do your own research. Don’t just trust your medical professional, ask why.Understand that more care doesn’t mean better care. Decide for yourself what is best for you and your baby.

In the end, balance what is best for the mother and infant. For me and my family, we’ve decided that birth free from drugs and with as little intervention as possible is best for us. I researched midwives and birthing centers in the area we lived and found one that I absolutely loved with a great history and recommendations. I wouldn’t have traded my experience at Best Start with my midwives for the world. For the record, I’m not against a C-section if it is necessary, however many women today are having C-sections for convenience rather than necessity which can be very dangerous.